Google+ is my muse by Eric Proulx

Please don’t tell my girlfriend, but I’m having an affair. It’s been going on for a little more than a year and even though I know it’s wrong and everyone keeps telling me it just won’t work out, I can’t help but think it must be destiny. Yes…it is Google+. She torments me night and day with her charm, her passion, and creativity. I love her, and she loves me. G+ is making social fun again I might just be a bitter old man, but social has lost its fun for me. Facebook is killing me with the obvious monetization strategies of promoted posts, YouTube is full of angry pre-adolescent children, and the benefit of Twitter has always eluded me. Yet amidst the turmoil there arises the glory of Google+.

How to use Google+ There is no way I would try to explain how to use Google+ in one post. It would be pages and pages of information and frankly, I lose track after the first few paragraphs of any blog. What I mean by explaining how to use Google+ is encouraging folks to look at it a different way. I mean to do so, by addressing the number one beef with G+.

In many cases, I would agree. I get low interaction for the things I post and almost every one of my friends on Facebook is still clueless about G+. So why bother? Instead of using Google+ as a medium to stay in touch with your previous contacts, see Google+ just as a source of content and perhaps a place to make new friends. Here’s an example of a brand, spanking new G+ profile as viewed from the home page. I’ve highlighted the four most important sections of any G+ page but especially for those who are just getting started. 4. You May Know: Again, I’m not going to try and fight the battle that G+ will have everyone you knew on Facebook or Twitter so I’m not going to try and push finding people you may know on G+ already. However, it is worth noting that once you register with G+, any of your Gmail contacts who are active on G+ may appear here and is a nice, quick way to check that. 3. Trending on Google+: For those of you who are huge fans of Twitter, this section will be the easiest to help transition you from Twitter. Much like the trending section on Twitter, this section will show you the most popular keywords or hashtags on Google+ and gives you a sort of guide map into Google+ 2. Fun & Interesting: This is a GREAT way to find active profiles of celebs, companies, thought leaders etc who are active on G+ and are broken down by category. Everything from politics, games, technology, news, and sports, it’s another awesome way of finding interesting profiles with great content. 1. What’s Hot: So if you don’t want to spend any time doing any of the other points above, at LEAST take a look at the what’s hot category which will automatically be set to fill your home feed with some of the most popular posts on Google+ (it’s possible to turn this off and I’ll explain later). If any of you use Google Reader, this is basically the equivalent except with so much more emphasis on making things look beautiful. Without having to set up searches for topics, or even look through what’s interesting and what isn’t, G+ is already hooking you up with some of the most interesting content on the web just by having an account. And it’s presented in such a beautiful fashion. Now naturally, where there is content, there is conversation and I am here to tell you that G+ is not as void of interaction as one might think. Again, I’m really just trying to stress G+ as a source of good content to get people started, but say you find interesting or cool things on G+. Wouldn’t the next step be to interact or talk about the cool things you find with those who share the same interests? Well there you have it. My cyber crush on G+ is made even more public. I’ll understand if you’re still hesitant about trying it out, but if you’re ever in need of content it couldn’t hurt to peek. The possibilities are endless. Wouldn’t it be great if G+ made it so you could somehow filter this content based on interest or location? Oh wait…